“Sunscreen or fry, rehydrate or die” was something I heard often on my Young Endeavour Adventure. I, like many others, discovered that this advice was indeed very useful and neither frying nor dying was good fun.

I decided to apply for a voyage on Young Endeavour because I wanted to experience life at sea before I joined the Navy later in the year. As soon as we boarded the ship and I began to get to know all the other youthies (youth crew) and staffies (staff crew), I knew that I was in for an incredible 11 days. My particular voyage was V01/17 from Adelaide to Stanley.

For me, the highlights of my voyage were visiting parts of Australia that I had never seen before, Command Day, where we got to take control of the ship and learn valuable leadership skills, the INCREDIBLE food, climbing the masts, keeping watches - it was a pretty cool feeling to be on the helm of such a magnificent ship in the middle of the night chatting with the other members of your watch, and just the general good vibe onboard the ship.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I participated in the voyage to gain sea experience but little did I know how much more the program had to offer me. At the end of the voyage I had definitely experienced life at sea but I had also met a group of fantastic people, learned to sail a tall ship, discovered the importance of team work, forced myself out of my comfort zone, and learned that I am capable of much more than I ever thought. Following my voyage, I am more excited than ever to join the Navy look forward to seeing where a career in the Navy can take me.

If you are thinking of applying, do it, I can guarantee that you too will enjoy the experience and there will be something for you to get out of this program.